ODU Signs Up Record Number For National Bone Marrow Registry

NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion University football signed up 339 names for the national Bone Marrow drive today. The 339 names on the list is the most ODU has compiled in one day since starting the event six years ago.

ODU Head Coach Bobby WIlder started the drive six years ago and the Monarchs have continued to raise more awareness and add names to the list. This year's number of 339 is the highest in school history, surpassing last year's number more more than 100, and also more than the 303 that the University of Virginia added to the list earlier in the week.

In what has become an annual event for the Monarchs, Wilder and his team are looking to help the more than 6,000 men, women and children who are searching the National Marrow Registry for a life-saving donor. These patients have leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases that can be treated by a bone marrow or cord blood transplant.

There are 20 million people worldwide who are registered as potential marrow donors. Still, there are only about 250 matches found each year, making it a 1-in-80,000 chance that a registered donor will be a match.